Written by: Anushka Basnet - 24011, Grade XI
Posted on: 06 September, 2022
Colleen Hoover is an author known for her books written in the romance genre. She is exceptionally popular among young adults and teens. Her popularity is mostly seen in the famous social media app TikTok. Her book “IT ENDS WITH US '' was a huge hit. Personally, I was very intrigued with the hype surrounding Colleen Hoover back. Hearing her name and seeing her books in every bookstore I went and all over my social media really grabbed my interest. I felt the need to read her books. It was as if her books were a must read. However popular she and her books might be, her works were not worth the hype in my opinion. I read ‘It ends with us’ last year right when it was surfacing the internet with great deal of popularity. The book talked about domestic abuse, jealousy and mental illnesses as the themes with romance as the main genre. The points of discussions in the book were great but everything else was average for me. It was disappointing to be honest but overall it was an okay-ish read. It was overhyped, yes, but it still was a good read.
Then I read another of her works “Ugly Love”. it was also very much in hype. I didnt have any great expectations from the book as i was already disappointed by her previous work. But i got disappointed even with low expectations. Reading the book, I noticed some very disturbing plots. The male lead once used to be in love with his step sister and had a kid with her. That single line says a lot about the book. There were also many confusing paragraphs. There was overuse of NSFW content and unwanted arrogance in male lead. I can easily add this book to my least favorite books of all times.
One thing I noticed in Hoover’s books was that she almost always included the pregnancy trope, the male lead treating the female lead like garbage then having a mysterious overnight personality upgrade and then a sudden happy ever after ending. The anger issues and unwanted jealousy with undiagnosed bipolar in male leads in Colleen Hoover books are always present.
I personally like mystery thrillers alot and prefer it over romance books. So i got another book recommendation “Verity”. Another of Colleen Hoovers’ books. I was suggested this by my friend. I read some reviews online and some people thought it was a great thriller book. Some said it was far better than her other works. So i gave it a try. There were many plot holes and honestly I felt like reading it was a waste of my time.
Personally I don't think Colleen Hoover’s books are worth reading. They have hidden misogyny and many confusing sentences. I would not recommend her books to anyone. They are not the peak of romance literature. This is nothing against Colleen Hoover or anyone who enjoys her works. I personally would not be reading her books and would also not recommend it to anyone. Her writing consists of a lot of first person narration, which may be interesting to some but for me it reminds me of wattpad stories. I don't like her works and I don't discourage anyone from reading her works but for me I don't think I will ever read her works again.
